Purpose Is Essential

Pharmaceuticals are playing a major role in the deterioration of mental health among young people. There is a link between teen suicidal thinking and antidepressant use, along with a link being seen in actual suicides among the young and the use of opioids in their families.

Across age groups, social media is potentially hazardous, with its tendency to amplify the social divide.

There is a strong relationship between anxiety/depression and the use of smartphones, particularly social media usage among kids, though the data also seem to show the positive effects of staying connected with their peers. Online distractions also make youngsters give up their offline life, leading to isolation and further depression.

Reading connects us to people across time and space.

• Research shows that those who read the Bible more tended to have a stronger sense of purpose.
• Reading fiction also seems to make a difference. By seeing purpose in the lives of other people, we are more likely to see it in our own.

Finding purpose is not just an intellectual pursuit, it is something we need to feel. That's why purpose can grow out of suffering.

For youngsters to be comfortable with challenges, failure, and uncertainty, a three-step approach is put forth, which has the elements of separation, liminality, and reincorporation. 

This approach, comprising of three stages (preparation, threshold and reflection), enables one to rise, and transcend to a different level, having learned new skills.

A challenging ordeal, filled with frustration, setbacks, and even failure is an important step in the rite of passage.

Failure is just an opportunity to learn and grow, and this is practically imbibed in the youngsters in the tasks undertaken while ensuring that the focus on the positive aspects.

Some points to ensure:

• Record and bring forth the lessons from the project activity by making the students aware of the many details they can miss due to their focus on their performance.

• Keep the 'wonder' part alive and do not let go of ethics and morals in this exercise.

• In the early 1900s, Sigmund Freud gave childhood amnesia its name. The most commonly accepted explanation for childhood amnesia was that children couldn't form stable memories until age 7 - even though evidence for this idea was lacking.
• In the late 1980s, experiments revealed that children three and younger keep their memories, although it is limited. At 6 months of age, infants' memories last for a day, and by age 2, for a year. At around age 6, children begin to forget many of their earliest memories.

From birth to our early teens, we have far more links between brain cells. The excess brain mass is very adaptable and allows children to learn very quickly.

But the adaptability comes with a price. The large and complex network in the brain is still busy growing and not as capable of forming memories efficiently as in adulthood. Consequently, long-term memories created in our first three years of life are the least stable and prone to be forgotten as we age.

If you imagine lying on a peaceful beach, your body will respond by relaxing. If you imagine being late for an important meeting, your body will tense in response. Use this to your advantage in building willpower.

Procrastination, or the way we let pending tasks linger on, just avoiding them, is one of the main reasons our goals don't materialize.

The longer any work is avoided the harder it becomes to eventually do it.

Like dishes piling up in the kitchen sink, they get harder and harder to do as the load increases.

Fear causes us to procrastinate. It can be:

• Fear of change
• Fear of leaving our comfort zone
• Fear of the unknown
• Fear of failure
• Fear of what other people would think of us

We justify these fears by imaginary different reasons, but the root cause is not related to our invented reasons, it is our inherent fear.

Studies showed that the experiences as a baby within the first three years of life lay the foundation for how the brain is wired well into adulthood.

However, it is possible to "re-learn" things as adults and change the framework of our brains this way. If you are committed to your partner but fear the "label," consider how you view attachment, dedication, and loyalty in relationships.

Entitlement is an unrealistic, unmerited or inappropriate expectation of favorable living conditions and treatment by others. It is a selfish quality.

People act entitled in relationships because they are overcompensating for never getting what they want or are comfortable in always getting what they want.

• Some therapists are just there to listen and provide a backdrop.
• Even the silence that they exhibit seems to kindle the patients into divulging more of their most uncomfortable truths.
• Others keep the sequence of assignments and tests lined up, never pausing.
• Therapists play varied roles to get some valuable information out of the patient and make him better.

No particular form of therapy is proven to be better or more effective than others.

Different people prefer or respond to different forms of therapy.

Concepts of middle age change as we get older. People aged over 60 recalled their midlife crisis at 53, while those in their 40s dated theirs to 38.

It appears that there are no distinct midlife crises, but rather crises that occur from time to time.

• The term "midlife crises" was coined in 1965, and reflects the dawning recognition of one's mortality where death becomes a personal matter.
• According to Elliot Jaques, the key achievement of middle age is to move beyond youthful idealism to a constructive acceptance.
• Other explanations are that it is when children may be leaving home, when chronic illnesses often make their first appearance, or when workplace demands may be peaking.

A study on sixth-graders revealed that friendship is crucial and real for kids, and can be as deep as a parental relationship.

Most parents and teachers do not understand the importance of deep bonding among friends at school and tend to regard friendships as a distraction or a nuisance.

Social isolation is the dark side of the school, in which many kids with no friends are at risk of anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. There is a perceived sense of threat with being friendless, and the young, immature mind can deeply internalize the resulting difficulties, leading to depression.

Bullying at this age is also a major problem, with those who are socially isolated becoming the most vulnerable to being bullied.